OTTI 13 O-Cha Shincha

Thanks! I suppose it is a cute little cup. It's definitely not hand painted or anything even remotely fancy though. Got a set of 4 for about $10 from a local store that also sells giant Hello Kitty stuffed animals and Totoro slippers.haha

I'm drinking the last of the two shincha OTTIs, with today's selection the Yutaka Midori. Today it came out very mellow, and reminded me of my favorite O-Cha Sencha, the Sencha Otsuusan. A happy ending to this OTTI just in time for the arrival of my 2012 green tea order from Jing.

Started with the Yutaka Midori this morning, timidly, 3.7 grams into my 5 oz Petr Novak unglazed kyusu, preheated with water to 150 degrees, 30 second first infusion. Lots of fines through the filter, should probably have strained it. The dry and warmed leaves both had a distinct chocolatey note, which seems quite absent from the sweet, light liquor--a little fruitiness apparent at the end.

2nd infusion was 35 seconds, strained through so a slower pour, still 150 degrees, and stronger astringency is apparent, but not dominant. 3rd infusion 160 degrees, 90 seconds--got distracted, meant it to be 45 seconds--and was surprised by the mellow rich sweetness, nothing briny, and even hints of that chocolate hinted at from the aroma of the dry leaves. Hmmmm…. 4th infusion, quite lost track of time, 180 degree water, at least 2 minutes, maybe 3 or 4….and it's sweet, rich, delicious. I may have to rethink my fear of YM!

I have tried I think every sample now except the Chiran sample. I really loved the Myabi (I think my favorite of the samples), the Y-M and the Sae Midori. The Kirameki was so smooth and silky - it really was a pleasure to drink. I really enjoyed this OTTI. I think I'm finally going to have to place an order since I have consistently enjoyed all the O-Cha teas I've tried in several of the OTTI offerings.

2nd is about 25 seconds, same temp, and very similar aroma and flavor, Deliciously delicate. I ordered some of this tea last year and loved it, and this feels like more of the same.

3rd, about a minute or minute and a half, so enjoying this. A hint of astringency now, but the foreground is still green vegetables. Mmm. ….Long time, not taking enough notes. There were some intermediate time/temp infusions between that were unfailingly pleasant. I'm at about the 6th infusion, 205 degrees, several minutes, and it's hit sweetwater--a very pleasant sweetwater, but it's done now.

Enjoyed the kirameki yesterday, brewed casually during a busy clinic session, and it was lovely, sweet, mild, forgiving. I didn't realize that I hadn't reported on it before, so didn't take detailed notes. I can say for sure it was a 4 to 4.5, for being so pleasing and forgiving.

This AM I poured the rest of the Sae Midori sample into my Yi Yong Cheol porcelain pot, which is about 5 oz. This was a LOT of very fine particulate tea for this pot, and it came out a thick green almost like pea soup--

This one was quite briny in a way that I didn't enjoy so much first time around, so I diluted this heavy green liquor about 1:1 with hot water and it was much nicer, quite pleasant really, out to about 6 or 7 infusions, and water temps from 160 at the start to 205 at the end. This time around my experience iwth it was clearly a 4.

Finishing the Yutaka Midori today, a lot of tea in my shibo--not the best match of brewing vessel and tea, but workable, just letting the slow pour be the brewing time. Generous dilutions of the resulting thick brew bring it more in line with my preferences, still a bit brinier than my favorites, but a very nice tea, without any unpleasant surprises or finicky brewing requirements.

Tossed the rest of my Aoi shincha into my shibo, combined several quick infusions, and shared the result with colleagues up and down the hall, a lovely tea to make friends and influence people with--sweetly, delicately vegetal, silky smooth. Mmmmm....

So far I've had the aoi, sae midori, miyabi, and have already posted on YM and Chiran. I still have some miyabi left, so I'm going to wait to post on it.

The Aoi was enjoable, a pretty straightforward sencha, but there are several asamushis that beat it out imho -- Shincha Kunpu (Den's tea), Maiko Kinari, Ippodo Kaboku/Ippodo Shincha, and naturally the Kirameki (going off of memory, as I haven't yet tried the 2012 version).

I think I need to eventually buy 100g of sae midori and give it another shot. I found it far too steamed for my taste - I mean, I enjoy deep steam, but I find a lot more fragrance when a tea is more carefully steamed. The color of the liquor was a pretty green, and there was a nice herbaceous sweetness as well, but I don't remember much else (hence, wanting to give it another shot). Nonetheless, I'd prefer it if it wasn't so (overly) steamed.

Finished off the O-Cha OTTI today with the last of the Chiron shincha. I started this one off without enough caution, and it was sharp and difficult for me to enjoy the first time around. This time, I prepared it in my shiboridashi (a tough fit for the very finely broken leaves), and used the entire rest of the packet. I started the water very cool, 150 degrees, and very short--flash rinses that weren't really that short, because the pour time is so long. And, it was delicious. The first infusion was vegetal and delicate, the second a bit briny at first sip, but a bit of a dilution corrected that. And with a little care and caution, I got a LOT of enjoyable infusions out of it.

I didn't enjoy it as much as the Aoi or the Kirameki, but it was quite tasty, this time around, a 4.